Aug. 23, Meiko played an intimate acoustic show at the Doug Fir Lounge in East Portland.
Starting promptly at 9:30 p.m., Meiko took the stage in a black acid-wash babydoll dress and black leggings with just her guitar, a microphone and a rum and coke – her signature pre-show drink, she told the audience (it used to be two beers, she explained, but she found herself not playing good shows after those.)
Meiko played a mix of songs off her five albums for an hour, prefacing each song with a personal story. I saw upwards of fifteen bands this weekend at MusicFestNW, but none of them competed with Meiko’s stage presence. Like her songs, she is honest, unapologetic and charmingly quirky. The audience got to learn that Meiko shops at Trader Joe’s, loves the posters the Doug Fir makes for her and that she was told by a photographer that she should stop closing her eyes while performing — to which she thought, “Fuck you!”
Instead of grasping for bits of conversation, the audience received what was almost a standup comedy routine, all told in Meiko’s soft Southern drawl. There was as much laughter as there was applause, something you don’t necessarily expect from a singer-songwriter.
Despite a Sunday night slot during which indie rock gods Modest Mouse were playing a mere two miles away, the Doug Fir was three-quarters filled for Meiko. Her cult status became even more apparent after the show, when she walked offstage and told the audience she’d be at the merch stand. Before she could even walk across the room, she was swarmed by people grasping her CDs, shirts and posters. Conversations in the line to meet Meiko ranged from, “She was in the audience before the show. I can’t believe nobody saw her,” to “Last time I saw her we got a photo together and she liked it on Instagram!” to girls buying her rum and cokes. Even shoving in the line was not out of the question.
Suddenly the show felt less like an intimate evening of collective experience and understanding with a beautiful songbird, and more like Taylor Swift had just stepped off the stage. A show where a singer-songwriter can be equated to that level of celebrity is a show where I want to be.
Sorry Modest Mouse, but I think Meiko won the weekend.